world seemed to drop away. Danger didn’t matter. His arms swept around her, held her close so that her heart beat with the same rhythm as his. She placed her hand over his chest, felt his heart beat strongly against her palm. She lifted her gaze to his and was instantly lost in the burning intensity she saw there.
There was a storm of emotion between them, a dark cauldron every bit as roiling and wild as the gale raging above ground. Mesmerized, she could only stare up at him. His fingertips brushed the hair from her neck—sent fire racing through her bloodstream. Where he had been businesslike and abrupt with Jubal, he was gentle, even tender as he enfolded Joie closer. He bent his head to hers.
Gabrielle made a small cry of protest, and stepped toward them with every intention of stopping him. Traian lifted his head, his eyes glowing with a strange fiery red, halting her in her tracks. His eyelids drifted down, his arm curling around Joie possessively so that she nearly disappeared from sight, completely engulfed in his embrace. There was something very protective, yet predatory, in his posture.
His lips barely skimmed over Joie’s skin. She felt it. A brush of butterfly wings, no more, yet that slight touch sent heat spreading through her body. He kissed her eyes until she closed them. Sensations increased. He whispered to her, in her mind an intimate, soft litany of words in an ancient tongue.
“Te avio päläfertiilam. ” The seductive ancient language wrapped her in velvet, an erotic spell of enchantment she willingly embraced.
Joie felt his breath warm on her neck. His tongue swirled over her pulse. Once. Twice. Her entire body clenched, every muscle contracting breathlessly. Waiting. Wanting. His lips feathering over her neck sent heat pooling low, and her legs went weak. One arm, of its own accord, slid upward to curl around his head, to draw him closer, cradle him to her. White-hot lightning pierced her skin and sent whips of lightning dancing in her bloodstream, a pleasure bordering on pain. Nothing had prepared her for the sheer erotic fire coursing through her body. A soft moan escaped her. She moved restlessly against him.
Traian pulled her closer, imprinting his body against hers, feeling every lush curve and soft, rounded line. Lifemate. He had waited so long. Endured so much. There was no shield providing her with a protective barrier. She knew exactly what he was doing and yet she accepted him, accepted his need for her blood. That rich life-giving liquid rushed through his body with the force of a freight train; his shrunken, starving cells soaked it up; tissue and muscle and damaged organs demanded sustenance. He wanted to savor the moment, savor his first taste of her, his first touch on her skin.
Even as Traian struggled for sufficient control to blur the horrified gazes of her siblings, he was aware of the undead struggling to rise again and at least two vampires rushing through the maze of halls to reach him before he could escape. He took from Joie only what he needed to have strength when the battle came. He couldn’t risk her being too weak to defend herself. They would have more than one skirmish with the undead before they were out of the labyrinth of caves.
Very gently, almost reverently, he swept his tongue across the pinpricks to close and heal her skin. “Thank you, Joie.” His arms held her up, his body taking her weight.
She shivered as she lifted her lashes to study his face. At once she was caught and held in the dark depths of his eyes. “You’re welcome.”
“I hate to break up the love fest the two of you are having,” Jubal snapped, “but we’ve got a little problem. The stake just fell out of the dead thing’s heart. It’s rocking, which is gross, by the way, and he’s beginning to crawl around. With a big hole in his chest and black acid dripping everywhere, it isn’t a pretty sight.”
Jubal’s voice broke the spell Traian seemed to have woven around Joie. She pulled her gaze away with an effort and looked over at the creature clawing the floor of the cave in desperation, looking for his shriveled heart.
“He looks angry,” she observed.
Chapter Four
“Lamont is not the only one,” Traian agreed. “His friends are coming this way fast, and they have murder on their minds.”
He had to get Joie and her siblings to safety. The network of caves was a